I woke up from a six-month coma. I had my legs paralyzed and I was told I could no longer use them. I went through a year of physical therapy until I was able to independently move using a wheelchair and my upper body strength. I was able to go back to school.  

It was odd coming back to school now on my wheelchair. I would often get unexpected attention from strangers asking about the incident. I felt like it was my obligation to tell my story as a lesson to be told. What lesson to be learned is up to the listeners.

After class, I would hang out in the campus bench, pushing my way to a huge tree with massive shade which is far away from the bustling noise from chatting students. Most of my friends are already a year ahead of me so I wouldn’t really hangout with them often anymore. However, they always made sure to visit my house or invite me to hangout. With my disability, it often is hard for me to deal with as I always feel that I am such a bother to them.

It can be mentally taxing at times to deal with insecurities but I always made sure to not let it sink in for long in my head.

“Hi!” I got startled by the man appearing in front of me. I was too absorbed by my thoughts that I didn’t even notice him approaching from a far. “Sorry. I hope I didn’t startle you.” He calmly said.

“Oh. No, it’s alright.” I nervously chuckled. It was not new for me to have random strangers approaching me out of nowhere. I just hoped most of the time they are not a creep. But, most of the people in campus who approached me are very nice and empathizing.

“Can I help you with something?” I was used to people approaching me and asking me what happened to me. Or telling me how they recognized me in the papers and heard about the accident. There was nothing I can do about it as this came at the cost of waking up from a six-month coma.

“I’m George Daniel by the way…” I blinked in confusion. I waited for him to continue. “Um… from class?... But you can call me GD. It stands for George Daniel..." He nervously coughed to the side.

"Right..." I unconsciously mumbled. 

“Oh! Sorry. My memory is a bit foggy from medication.” I nervously chuckled. He reached out for a handshake and I accepted it. I haven’t been paying attention by the people I met as my pain medication would sometimes cause my memory to not function well.

He awkwardly smiled and seemed to be nervous while looking back at his group of friends which seemed to be encouraging him. “So, how can I help you, George?” I broke the silence.

“Oh… Well, I was wondering if you…” He tried to clear his throat. He seemed to be a fit and outgoing man, judging by his slender build. He continued. “A note for yesterdays’ science class?... I mean subject?” He tried to calm himself by rubbing a hand at the back of his neck.

“Oh… Yes. Yes, I do… Do you want to borrow it?” I started to pick up my back and digging to find my notebook.

“Yeah! That would be great!” His face lighted up. “If… If you don’t mind, I can just copy it here with… you…” He nervously turned to a group of people from a far, feeling conscious from their occasional gaze. I glanced at the group and lifted an eyebrow and said, “Are you sure? You seemed bothered about it?”

Upon hearing my response, he got startled and became defensive. “Oh, no! I’m not! It’s just that… I might be a bother to you...”

“Oh… not at all. You can have a seat.” I replied. His face lit up, jittery with excitement which I found odd. I handed him the notebook which he accepted with both hands and bowed and took it. He started flipping on an empty page on his notebook and started jotting and reading through my notes. As he continued to write, we would also occasionally talk about things about our class. After an hour, the school bill rang. He lifted his head and closed my notebook. He smiled and thanked me. I started to gather and placed my things inside my school bag.

I placed my bag on lap and started to back up. I didn’t notice he was waiting for me. He offered himself to help push to front of the school building. I smiled and nodded. We laughed as we started to approach the entrance. I found his humor and personality appealing. He seemed to be such a very sociable person. He politely greeted my mom and he even princess carried me up inside my mom’s SUV car. I blushed all throughout the trip going back to home.

My mom seemed to notice me smiling and tried to warn me about boys. Knowing what happened between her and Dad. I wouldn’t really blame her for being too protective towards me.

The next day, we went back to the hospital to do my weekly physical therapy for my legs. As my mom left and I entered the hospital, I saw GD sitting on the waiting area. He lifted his head lit up a smile upon seeing me. He hastily stood up and approached me.

“Hey!” He greeted me as he kept his mobile phone to his pant’s side pocket.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” Trying to suppress the thought of him being a stalker.

“Oh. Here for my follow up check. You?”

“Here for my PT… Are you sick?” My face turned to concern.

“Oh. Just my arm. Got on an accident during play off and injured my right arm. Got fractured it during play as I accidentally collided with a player.” He tried to swivel his shoulder as it had an odd snapping sound from the bone.

“Ohhh… I hope it’s going to be alright.” I frowned seeing him massaged his shoulder, remembering how he lifted me to my mom’s car. He smiled and replied, “It is!”

I felt a sense of guilt, “I hope I didn’t cause any adverse injury from the other day. I’m quite heavy.” I felt like crying.

His face got startled. “Oh no! I’m fine! Really!” He crouched down and looked at me with a worried face. “Please don’t feel bad… Really. Just here to get ready for the next play off. We are required to have our physique checked prior to any game. It’s required.”

I clenched my teeth and just nodded in response. He was not convenience that I accepted his reason. He stared at my hand for a moment and gently grabbed it. I flinched and slightly surprised by his action.

He looked down with his face somber until he let out a sigh.

He lets go of my hand and looked up with a smile. His eyes almost closed as he smiled widely.

“After your therapy, do you have any plans?” His sudden change of character took me aback. I stammered but able to respond, “A… I… don’t…”

“Nice! How about we go grab lunch?” His smile still beaming; I could only nod. I got startled as the PT nurse called my name. He hastily stood up and helped guide me to the PT room and waved goodbye as he went back to the waiting room.

After the session, I was sweating so much. He was already waiting outside the room and waved at the glass door. I pushed my wheelchair to the door and he opened the door for me.

“I’m quite sweaty. Can I go home and change first?” I patted my sweat with the towel in hand.

“Sure, I can take you home.”

I backed up as he tried to come closer. “Oh, no! I mean. I can ride there with my mom.” Embarrassed for him to smell my sweaty body, I was flustered from the thought.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Let me take you home. It would be much easier, you know.”

I nodded in response and reached for my mobile phone to notify my mom to not pick me up. I covered myself with fragrant alcohol to try to hide any stench from sweat. His car had a short clearance and made it easier for me to get in to his car.

We arrived in my mom’s house and GD was very polite with my mom. He asked permission to take me to lunch. My mom was skeptical but she laid down the restrictions as if we were going on a date. I just stayed quiet. I went to my room just on the lower floor. I took a quick bath and hastily changed. I contemplated on wearing make up but realized we were not going on a date and quickly sprayed perfume.

I overheard my mom laughed and hastily went out to meet them. They were talking with GD’s Dad as my mom and his dad used to date back in the day.

“What a small world.” I murmured. He stood up while smiling and bid my mom goodbye. My mom’s mood seemed to change. I could only stare at here with a suspecting look on my face. My mom waved good bye at us as we settled inside GD’s car.

We decided to go to a famous ramen place which was a few kilometers away from my house. We talked about school and he told me that he was a baseball athlete. He shared how he sustained the arm injury and how it changed his life. He thought he would never be able to play baseball again.

As he slowly parked the car, GD continued to talk. “One day, I saw you doing your PT session. You were so determined as you pushed your legs to walk… It was inspiring…” The car slowly backed as he checked both side mirror. “Every day, you were in that room, pushing yourself and challenging yourself… Even though you wanted to give up… You snap out from your negative thoughts and continued on…”

He changed the car gear in reverse. My eyes were starting to burn. He was making me cry as I remembered the hardship I had to go through, getting myself back on track in starting to live my life past the arduous post coma treatment. He continued on, “And I thought, I’m such loser for thinking that my life was ruined for just a fractured arm… So, I changed my mind set and pushed myself to get better soon… And promised myself…” I tried to keep myself away from blocking his view in the side mirror while bawling my fist to suppress the tears in my eyes.

The car slowly went to a stop. “That someday, I will muster the courage…” He looked at me with a gentle smile on his face. I could feel my face flustered by his words. “To tell you that you inspired -AND- still inspires me…” I stiffened. I was never used to accepting complements. “And maybe someday… when you get to know me… better, I guess…” He nervously chuckled. I stayed silent as I didn’t know what to respond but I continued to look at his face.

“And if this lunch, turns out okay…” He rubbed the back of his neck again, easing the tension he was feeling.

He looks at me and said, “Will you… go out with me?”

Took me a moment to realize what was happening. His confession made both of us nervous. I felt a cramp running down my leg but I tried to hold it in.

“GD… I…” He furrowed his brows as he listened to me intently. “I… really don’t want to get your hopes up. Clearly, I am a liability and you’re a very active guy… healthy even!” My seemed to stammer.

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